The Gruffalo - Preschool Activities and Crafts

Book: The Gruffalo

The Gruffalo Activities and Preschool Lesson Plan

What is a Gruffalo? (In the classroom preschool lesson plan and activities available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)
Begin the day by placing a blank piece of white construction paper and several colors of markers in your large group area. When children gather, ask them, “What is a Gruffalo? What would it look like?” As they describe what they think a Gruffalo would look like and draw it on the paper.  When all of their ideas are exhausted, show them The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and continue by reading the story. Beth, a preschool teachers, shares a number of exciting and engaging activities you can do with your class centered around this story. 

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

The Gruffalo Story

Gruffalo Body Parts (Listening and Vocabulary) Extension activities and lesson available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Print a picture of the Gruffalo for each child. Hand out 12 counters to each child.

Say, show me Gruffalo's

terrible claws
terrible tusks
terrible jaw with his terrible teeth
terrible horns
knobbly knees
turned-out toes
poisonous wart on his nose
black tongue
purple prickles
orange eyes
brown ears
bushy tail

Let children point to the matching body parts on the Gruffalo Mat and place a counter on it.

Preschool Activities: 

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The Gruffalo Games 

The Gruffalo Memory Game

What you need:
Gruffalo Story Pictures Printable

Place the Gruffalo Cards face down on a table. Taking turns, each player turns over two cards. If the cards match, the player gets to keep the cards and gets another turn. If the cards don't match, the cards get turned over again. The player with the most cards wins the game.

Preschool Activities: 

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Gruffalo's Forest Matching Game (Forest game board available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Hand out a forest board to each player. (For younger children that are not able to read yet, glue the matching picture on top of the word.) Let children place the pictures on the matching words or pictures.

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

Roll and Build a Gruffalo Activity and Game (Fine Motor Skills, Number Sense)
(Game instructions and printables available inside our KidsSoup Resource Library)

Preschool Activities: 

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Game Instructions:
First children create a Gruffalo head with brown play dough. Then, roll the dice and add the matching Gruffalo parts to the head. 

Preschool Activities: 

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Gruffalo Preschool Crafts  

Gruffalo Cup Craft  (Craft description and pattern available inside our KidsSoup Resource Libary)

Let children paint a large styrofoam cup brown. Let dry. Cut out horns, tusks, a black mouth, teeth, two orange eyes, spikes, arms, and feet out of craft paper. Let children glue the pieces on the cup.

Preschool Activities: 

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The Gruffalo Story Headbands (Craft description and patterns available inside our KidsSoup Resource Libary)

Create headbands for each character of The Gruffalo story. Let children re-tell the Gruffalo story wearing the headbands. Then, invide children to make a Gruffalo headband to take home. 

Preschool Activities: 

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The Gruffalo Preschool Outdoors Activity

Gruffalo Tree
Take children outside to a place with lots of trees. Provide children with some play dough and let them create a Gruffalo Tree creature by sticking play dough on the tree trunk to create face features and adding sticks/leaves, etc,. for horns and teeth.

Preschool Activities: 

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The Gruffalo Small World Play Area

Print The Gruffalo Finger Puppets printables and laminate. Cut out each character without the finger handles and glue the top of a craft stick. Provide play dough, pine twigs, sticks, pinecones, and stick trees to create their forest scene. Encourage children to replay or create their own stories.

Preschool Activities: 

Media Root

The Gruffalo Extensions

The Gruffalo's Child Book	The Gruffalo and Gruffalo's Child DVD

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